In this lesson we see how we go about using our Tarot cards so we get the best results from them. It is important to prepare ourselves properly so we know what we are doing and we get the results we want.

Before you sit down to do a Tarot reading, it can be helpful to pause for a little time, so you are relaxed and have put aside all the other things from your day. Close your eyes take a few deep breaths and let yourself relax. It is a good idea to count while you breathe - count to four as you breathe in and four as you breathe out. This focuses your mind and stops it from thinking about the shopping, what you will have for dinner or next week’s lottery numbers! Just do a few minutes of this and you will be much better prepared to work with your Tarot cards. You might even like to hold your cards while you do this, it’s up to you. Some people feel they ‘attune’ or link in to their Tarot cards better this way. Others like to light some incense or a candle or play some relaxing music quietly in the background. None of this is essential, but it’s good to experiment and find out what works best for you. Remember there are no rules with the Tarot so you are not doing anything wrong! If you like it, stick with it.

So now we come to what we want to know from the Tarot cards and why we are using them. The first thing to know is that the Tarot will always tell us the truth to whatever we ask of it. This means it is very important that we think about what we are going to ask, because this is what the cards will respond to. Equally, if we do not ask a clear question, we will not get a clear answer. The Tarot does not really give us an answer that is just ‘yes’ or ‘no’. There is a good reason for this – it is just like life! It is rare that things in life are that clear – should we take the job offer? Should we get involved with a new person? This is why the Tarot is so helpful because, to quote one of my favourite sayings, ‘life teaches you about Tarot and Tarot teaches you about life’!

The Tarot is designed in such a way that it will tell us all about the situation we are asking about. For instance if we are asking whether someone we fancy is the right person for us or not, the cards will tell us about that person, something about their character, their situation in life and so on. The Tarot will also tell you about yourself and from this you can then decide whether you feel they are the right person for you.

Working with the Tarot means we work with the laws of spirit or Universal laws and these tell us that we have freewill, we think for ourselves and we create our own destiny and what we experience in life. So the Tarot does not say that something will definitely happen, the future is not fixed, we make our own futures by what we do now. Where the Tarot is so useful is that it helps us make the choices and decisions we need to make by giving us so much more information than we would otherwise have. Put another way, it helps us help ourselves.

It is important that we are open and honest when we ask the Tarot things, because it will tell us the truth, every time. This is why it is best not to read for yourself, because however honest we think we are being, it is too easy to see what we want to see in the cards we are given, rather than what is really there. So how do we ask the correct question? The first thing is to think about what you really want to know. Let’s take the example of finance, and how our fortunes look, something close to all our hearts! We might ask the Tarot: "Am I going to get (more) money in the next six months?" - To this question the Tarot could easily say yes, since if you are working you will be getting more money – you will be paid each month and so on!